The suspect accused of fatally shooting four people at a Montana bar and who remains at large struggled with mental health issues, but was denied services from agencies that were supposed to help, according to his niece.
The search for Michael Paul Brown, 45, continued Wednesday in connection with the Friday morning shooting at the Owl Bar in the town of Anaconda. Brown, who officials say lived next door to the bar and likely knew the victims, allegedly fled after opening fire.
“My uncle is a very mentally ill veteran,” Clare Boyle said in a statement to NBC affiliate KNDU of Kennewick, Washington. “He had developed schizophrenia during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then he joined the National Guard, where he was not allowed to be deployed again due to his mental illness.”
Boyle said Brown “hasn’t been the same since he came back.”
Boyle did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The Army said Brown had served as an armor crewman from January 2001 to May 2005, and in the Montana National Guard from April 2006 to March 2009. He had been deployed to Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005, and ultimately left the Army with the rank of sergeant.
The National Guard did not respond to a request for comment on his mental health.
Boyle said her uncle’s condition worsened with the death of both of his parents, especially his mother.
“The VA turned us away stating that they weren’t able to help. The Montana state Hospital turned us away because they only accept patients who are court ordered which could not happen unless ‘He becomes a harm to self or others.’”
“The system failed,” Boyle said. “We as people failed.”
The Department of Veteran Affairs and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment Tuesday.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was asked during a news conference Tuesday about whether Brown had been denied help from Veteran Affairs.
“Under federal law we can’t comment on an individual patient,” he said, adding, “we’re not at liberty to release that.” Attorney General Austen Knudsen said his office doesn’t have that information.
Boyle said that her uncle “frequently suffers from delusions and ‘tall tales’” but “99% of the time Mikee is harmless.” She said that patrons of the bar would urinate on his porch and mock his delusions to get a rise out of him.
“He mostly believes he is John Wick. Only he is sent here from the future to save the world and his family. My uncle doesn’t drink anymore or use drugs because ‘They block my wizard powers,’” she said. “I just want him to be found safely and receive the help we’ve been screaming for.”
It’s not clear what motivated the shooting.
Authorities say Brown opened fire using a personal rifle around 10:30 a.m. and then fled the Owl Bar. Bartender Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, and patrons Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74, were killed in the shooting.
“I don’t know what happened Thursday night to provoke this and I don’t know what happened Friday morning to push this,” Boyle said. “What I do know is no amount of words or apologies will ever be enough to express the remorse and heartbreak I personally feel for these families effected. 5 families were destroyed on Friday morning.”
In the statement, Boyle said that the shooting is indefensible but that it could have been prevented if her uncle had been given better care.
“Mental illness does not excuse these acts and I can’t say it enough,” she said. “But these acts could have been prevented with proper reporting and a healthcare system that gave a damn about its veterans and citizens.”
She described her uncle as a loving relative who taught her how to ride a bike, fish, swim and play football and baseball.
Brown “drove an hour and a half to have lunch with me when I was away at college because I was home sick and didn’t want to be there anymore,” she said.
“He’s a human being. A very sick one at that,” she added.
The manhunt for Brown is ongoing. He was last seen Friday afternoon during a car pursuit with law enforcement.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information on Brown’s whereabouts. Officials believe he’s armed and dangerous as he has access to numerous firearms.
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